The K-drama May Marathon Madness officially starts in earnest for me now that Lie to Me has finally arrived. Together with Best Love, I’m planning to enjoy both individually (as long as it’s good and/or stays good), and also seeing how the two dramas approach the most frivolous of all genres (the rom-com), and hopefully makes it unique, thoughtful, and entertaining. Continue reading
This was a good episode, wasn’t it? Somehow the writer(s) of Drunken to Love You understand how to balance the exaggerated narrative moments with the incredibly poignant quiet scenes that tie the drama together into a unique package. Episode 4 hit another ratings high at 3.34, and the drama takes the OTP from comfortable bickering and chill time into working together and I gots your back time. Continue reading
In the future, all K-drama white knights have a lot of live up to. Han Kang is taking the role of the devoted friend to a new level of effectiveness, not content with just doing little things to support Ji Hyun, he’s almost singlehandedly making her last wishes comes true and sustaining her on her three tear quest. Normally he might seem too perfect or too accommodating, but somehow he just seems reassuring and practical. Continue reading
At just 26 years old, it’s rather astounding to know that Rainie Yang has been in the industry toiling for 10 years already. Starting with being in a much-too-short-lived girl group and a very supporting turn in Meteor Garden, she’s come a long way to be crowning Taiwan’s reigning acting queen. I still contend Hi, My Sweetheart was a travesty of a drama, with Rainie and Show Luo over-acting so much I thought it was a comedy troupe in action.
But I have slowly come to appreciate Rainie’s growth as an actress, and she is hitting it out of the park so hard in Drunken to Love You, I’ll consider her winning best actress for HMS an early coronation of sorts. Elle Taiwan made Rainie it’s cover girl recently, it was the first time she showed off her newly-shorn locks and discussed the future of her career. Continue reading
Looks like GTV is ramping up the publicity for Mike He and Cyndi Wang‘s Mei Le, Go. I can’t say I’m excited, but I’m game for the drama potentially being good. After watching the teaser, I find that highly unlikely to happen. What is with the recent spate of random and weird drama previews? This teaser convinces me that (1) Mike will be wearing really really ugly pants in this drama, (2) I still find Cyndi annoying, and (3) this drama will have a lot of bread references. Continue reading
While no official confirmation has been released thus far, the chatter on Weibo have pretty much confirmed that Tangren Production‘s next drama will be an adaptation of Louis Cha‘s (Jing Yong) last and most iconic novel Duke and the Cauldron (also known as Duke of Mount Deer). While Tangren’s completed Qing dynasty time travel drama Bu Bu Jing Xing remains mired in an uncertain fate due to the glut of time-travel dramas to hit the C air waves, most of which stomp all over historical accuracy and them poop on it a few more times for good measure, it’s decided to move ahead with an even more ambitious drama in the meantime.
While Duke is merely my second favorite LC novel, even I concede that it was his crowning achievement, the most dense, rich, and sophisticated novel to come from his pen. Other than the 1984 TVB adaptation of Duke with Tony Leung as rascally protagonist Wei Xiao Bao and Andy Lau as youthful sovereign Emperor Kangxi, no other Duke adaptation has managed to find actors suited for the roles and produced a drama as gripping as the novel. I thought the latest Duke adaptation, Royal Tramp 2008 starring Huang Xiaoming as Xiao Bao and Wallace Chung as Kang Xi has the most magnificent visual scenary but the acting and execution was a middling mess. So when I heard who Tangren cast, I did a headdesk and then started swearing – Hu Ge as We Xiao Bao and Nicky Wu as Emperor Kang Xi. Continue reading